The present disclosure relates to an inverter apparatus including an inverter interposed between an AC rotary electric machine and both a DC power supply and a smoothing capacitor and including a plurality of switching elements, and a control apparatus that controls driving of the plurality of switching elements.
As inverter apparatuses as described above, for example, apparatuses described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2011-083123 and Japanese Patent Application Publication No. H4-069096 are already known. In a technique in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2011-083123, an inverter apparatus is configured such that in order to release electric charge stored in a smoothing capacitor when a relay electrically connecting a DC power supply and an inverter together is set to an open state, both a switching element on a positive electrode side and a switching element on a negative electrode side are set to an on state to short-circuit both terminals of the smoothing capacitor.
In a technique in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. H4-069096, an inverter apparatus is configured such that when a voltage between the terminals of a smoothing capacitor is increased by regenerative power generated by an AC rotary electric machine, a switching element provided in an overvoltage protection circuit is turned on to connect the terminals of the smoothing capacitor together via a resistor, and thus the increase in voltage is suppressed.